50 IN THE DAYS OF AUDUBON 



him, and had an interview with him, for he thought a 

 man who had so long lived in the woods must have a 

 very intelligent knowledge of the habits of the winged 

 creatures, and that he could obtain very useful informa- 

 tion from him. On one side of the simple cabin rose 

 a large mountain, around which the storms gathered. 

 The man had had no education in books, and he deter- 

 mined to study the book of nature as a revelation of 

 God. 



" He appears to be a stranger," said Wilson, " as one 

 of the early inhabitants of the earth." 



" Within a stone's throw of his hut," he continues, " a 

 deep enormous chasm extends up the mountain for more 

 than four miles, through which a large body of water surges 

 in loud and successive falls." 



The hermit was a botanist, and loved to gather herbs 

 and to study their uses and beneficial effects. 



He studied the chemistry of the soil, and the effects of 

 different soils on grains. 



He learned how to doctor sick animals. People from 

 a distance came to him to treat disabled horses and oxen. 

 The hermit was ready to go on such errands; his heart was 

 in such work. 



As a result of these studies in the woods he came to 

 see what useful work the birds did in the interest of the 

 gardener. He also saw the value of insects as purifiers of 

 the air. 



